Good rally result for H?kkinen may lead to more

A good result for Mika HÃ¤kkinen in January's Arctic Lapland Rally could see
the Finn continue in rallying. The Lapland rally is so far a one-off event
but double Formula One champion HÃ¤kkinen said a top two finish might
persuade him to do ...

A good result for Mika H?kkinen in January's Arctic Lapland Rally could see
the Finn continue in rallying. The Lapland rally is so far a one-off event
but double Formula One champion H?kkinen said a top two finish might
persuade him to do more.

Mika Hakkinen.

Photo by DaimlerChrysler.

"Let's see how this rally is going to go," he told Reuters. "It will
definitely give me more of an idea of what it feels like. If I am in the top
two, then probably I will do more."

H?kkinen tested the Mitsubishi Lancer, which he will drive in the rally, at
the frozen Kemijoki river in the north of Finland recently and enjoyed
pushing the car to the limit.

"I had plenty of time to just spin the car and try the limits," he said, "It
was a good day. The car feels fun to drive because you have very long metal
spikes in the tyres, so we were able to maximise a very fine grip on the
ice. It is really interesting to push the car to the limit and go maximum
sideways on the ice."

The former McLaren driver officially retired from F1 this year, although he
had not competed since 2001. H?kkinen had said this season was to be a
sabbatical year but his decision to quit for good was announced in July. He
won his back-to-back Driver's Championships with McLaren in 1998 and 1999.